1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to alert devices, and more particularly to a detachable alert device and method of use for remembering children left in child safety seat.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
Increasingly, parents are becoming forgetful of their children, often unintentionally leaving them unattended in vehicles. Stressful daily lives with many tasks to perform cause a parent, or other person transporting children, to become distracted and inadvertently leave children upon departing a vehicle. Occasionally, the vehicle is shuttered and locked, even in hot weather, thereby potentially causing severe distress, injury, and/or death of a child left therein. In addition to injuries, children left alone in an otherwise unoccupied vehicle are potentially subject to kidnapping. With the need for multitasking, wherein many different needs are being addressed, and the consequent straining of the ability of a parent or caregivers to remember while busy and stressed, some form of reminding device would be advantageous.
A number of different types of reminder devices are available in prior art. For example, see: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/031,457, issued to Beardsley Victoria E provides a detachable alert device and method of its use. This device allows the user to remember a child left in a child safety seat, has an anchor element adapted to semi-permanently attach to the child safety seat. A reminder bracelet is adapted to removably attach to the anchor element and has a user engaging element adapted to removably attach the reminder bracelet to a user in a visible position; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/630,403, issued to Rachel Byrne, discloses a child safety alert device which includes a method for continuously alerting a user of a presence of a child in a car safety seat, the method including: providing an alert system including a continuous audible prompt, the alert system removably attached to the car safety seat; placing the child in the car safety seat; removing the alert system from the car safety seat; transferring the alert system to a location visible to the user, such that the user remains continuously alert to the presence of the child in the car safety seat, until the child is removed from the car safety seat; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/828,867, issued to Kalce Paul D teaches an electronic infant alarm system for automobiles for sounding an alarm when the driver seat is unoccupied. The system includes a pressure sensor pad for detecting the presence of a person in a car seat, and a belt buckle switch for determining whether a belt buckle is buckled into an infant car seat; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/160,648, issued to International Business Machines Corporation teaches a similar alarm system, integrated into a motor vehicle that triggers an alarm if the driver's door is open and the engine is turned off but there still is an occupant in the motor vehicle.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a need for a seat belt restraint and alarm system and method of use thereof, wherein a parent or other caregiver who is leaving the vicinity of a vehicle is reminded of the fact that the seat belt securing the child, or the child's seat, is still engaged and that potentially hazardous condition exists for the child.
Accordingly, the present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.